Crane strain

Building boom sends demand for machines, operators sky high

Published: Tuesday, May 29, 2007 at 6:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Tuesday, May 29, 2007 at 12:00 a.m.

Several cranes are seen operating at a construction site with the Dallas skyline as a backdrop.

TONY GUTIERREZ/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

DALLAS - It's daybreak when Michael Machovsky climbs nearly 200 feet to the cab of his tower crane for a 10-hour day of hoisting equipment and supplies across a downtown construction site.
As morning joggers shuffle by and commuter traffic backs up, Machovsky methodically swings the crane's jib and drops the hook for the morning's first lift. The same morning ritual is repeated across the Dallas skyline as the construction day rumbles to a start.
Booming commercial construction, an aging work force and tighter certification requirements are pushing demand for cranes and their operators nationwide.
"Every marketplace that we're in right now is saturated," said Sam Latona, preconstruction manager with Turner Construction, a Dallas-based company with offices across the country. "All the contractors are basically at 100 percent capacity and exceeding it."
Spending on nonresidential construction was up nearly 14 percent during the first three months of 2007 from last year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
To meet the current demand for equipment, Morrow Equipment Company, of Salem, Ore., has been adding to its fleet of about 500 large-scale cranes that it leases to contractors nationwide.
"It seems right now the demand is outstripping the ability to produce these cranes on the manufacturing level, and I think that's the case with most of our competitors as well," said Gary Vosper, Morrow's advertising director.
For now, construction firms are lining up cranes and crane operators early in the process to ensure their projects aren't delayed.

DALLAS - It's daybreak when Michael Machovsky climbs nearly 200 feet to the cab of his tower crane for a 10-hour day of hoisting equipment and supplies across a downtown construction site.<BR>
As morning joggers shuffle by and commuter traffic backs up, Machovsky methodically swings the crane's jib and drops the hook for the morning's first lift. The same morning ritual is repeated across the Dallas skyline as the construction day rumbles to a start.<BR>
Booming commercial construction, an aging work force and tighter certification requirements are pushing demand for cranes and their operators nationwide.<BR>
"Every marketplace that we're in right now is saturated," said Sam Latona, preconstruction manager with Turner Construction, a Dallas-based company with offices across the country. "All the contractors are basically at 100 percent capacity and exceeding it."<BR>
Spending on nonresidential construction was up nearly 14 percent during the first three months of 2007 from last year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.<BR>
To meet the current demand for equipment, Morrow Equipment Company, of Salem, Ore., has been adding to its fleet of about 500 large-scale cranes that it leases to contractors nationwide.<BR>
"It seems right now the demand is outstripping the ability to produce these cranes on the manufacturing level, and I think that's the case with most of our competitors as well," said Gary Vosper, Morrow's advertising director.<BR>
For now, construction firms are lining up cranes and crane operators early in the process to ensure their projects aren't delayed.<BR>